Sunday, April 25, 2010

It's been a little while since the last episode, but the wait is over, and was entirely worth it. As is the TATANS tradition, being a fifth episode, we've put together a video episode for your enjoyment.

This time around the Two Assholes got together with Guestholes 2 and 3 (Alex Krueger and Sean May) to do a little comparison between Perfect Dark for the Nintendo 64, and the HD re-release on Xbox Live Arcade. In short, we sat down and played video games for an hour or so, and talked about it all.

Be prepared to be filled with feelings of nostalgia, and be further willing to shell out the Microsoft Points to go buy the XBLA Perfect Dark, as you may have the inclination to do so once you watch us go through it.

It's been a little while since the last episode, but the wait is over, and was entirely worth it. As is the TATANS tradition, being a fifth episode, we've put together a video episode for your enjoyment.

This time around the Two Assholes got together with Guestholes 2 and 3 (Alex Krueger and Sean May) to do a little comparison between Perfect Dark for the Nintendo 64, and the HD re-release on Xbox Live Arcade. In short, we sat down and played video games for an hour or so, and talked about it all.

Be prepared to be filled with feelings of nostalgia, and be further willing to shell out the Microsoft Points to go buy the XBLA Perfect Dark, as you may have the inclination to do so once you watch us go through it.

Saturday, April 24, 2010

The Philadelphia Experiment is one of those movies a sort of remember from my youth. I remember it starred the dude from Eddie and the Cruisers and a navy ship that disappears but that was about it.

So I was happy to see it appear in my latest bundle of dvd's from Anchor Bay Entertainment as part of the Alternate Realities line.

The movie is based around the legend of the USS Eldridge, a navel ship that supposedly was used for experiments to cloak it from radar. These experiments went awry and people were fused to the ship, missing, etc etc.

No, it didn't really happen, there is a ton of evidence to contradict this story.

But it got turned into an awesomely cheesy sci-fi movie.

David Herdeg (played by Michael Pare the aforementioned Eddie and the Cruisers guy) and Jim Parker are sailors assigned to the Eldridge during the Philadelphia Experiment. The ship not only goes invisible to radar but disappears, needless to say the sailors on the ship itself go a little nuts. Jim and David think the ship is going to explode and jump off, straight into a time tunnel!

They reappear in the future, a helicopter chases them straight towards an electric fence, which Jimmy grabs on to, gets electrocuted and in something that makes no sense, an electric bolt shoots from the fence and blows up the helicopter.

We then go through typical time travel shtick; they find a German beer bottle and wonder if they lost WW2, find a Coke can and marvel at the lightness of the can.

In the meantime, a whole town in the present has disappeared.

Are they connected?

Are you high? Of course it is!

The Philadelphia Experiment is one of those 80's sci-fi movies that's very 80's but still somewhat enjoyable. The DVD presentation has a crisp picture and sound to it that kind of surprised me. Clean picture and 5.1 surround. There are virtually no extras on this disk and it should be noted that re-issue of the disk from a few years back with different packaging.

If you've never seen it before and like a bit of 80's cheese with your time travel, definitely worth a rent or a buy.

The Philadelphia Experiment is available on DVD from Anchor Bay Entertainment

It should be noted that we (Brent and Adam) attended the gala premier of GravyTrain with tickets provided by the film-makers. April and Tim have been nice to us in the past with posters and cd's to give away as prizes and are generally all around good people. That being said, I (Brent) feel that this review is still balanced and if you listen to the show you know I'm not one to play favorites either in terms of reviewing.

GravyTrain is the latest film by Canadian independent film makers April Mullen and Tim Doiron who last brought us the Rock, Paper, Scissors: Way of the Tosser, a film that was a really interesting little indy film set in the world of Rock, Paper, Scissors tournaments.

GravyTrain follows the story of small town cop Chuck Gravytrain (Doiron) and his newly assigned partner Uma Booma (Mullen) as they try to track down the elusive Jimmy Fish Eyes, the town's notorious criminal mastermind and killer of Chuck's father. The film features performances by Colm Mochrie, Tim Meadows and Alan Frew of 80's rock band Glass Tiger.

And for me, unfortunately, it's a film that doesn't completely work. BUT it may work for you. Just keep reading and I'll explain and I promise it's not a cop out.

Humor is hard. It's the hardest thing in the world to get right with everyone. What I find funny and what you find funny could be two totally different things. Neither one of us would be right or wrong...unless you like Bruno...and if that's the case, what the hell is wrong with you?

Where the film works (for me) is the world Tim Doiron created. Tim wrote GravyTrain as well as being the principal actor and to both ends he did a great job, especially for only his second feature. The world of Gypsy Creek really grabbed me. I love the fact that it had a whorehouse that the law didn't care about, a bar ran by what could only be described as the love child of Meadow's Ladies Man character from Saturday Night Live and Issac the bartender from The Love Boat and a local tv channel so poor that their main anchor has to do the news's opening theme song.

Not to mention Alan Frew.

Now I've never been and never will be a Glass Tiger fan but Frew as the local homeless man, Ewan McCauley, was a stroke of genius.

April Mullen and Tim Doiron also pull off very well as a comedic duo. April is a classic straight woman to Doiron's absurdity. Both have grown into much better as actors since the last time we saw them in Way of the Tosser.

The town and it's people were just fascinating to me. If you've seen shows like Little Britain or League of Gentlemen (or the Kids in the Hall version Death Comes to Town), it's got a similar vibe to it but totally original. No rip off characters, no stolen ideas, just a similar sense of humor to it. A town where common sense has been thrown out the window but yet it still makes sense.

In fact the town and it's people are so interesting that I didn't care for the actual plot of the film which is where my main problem with GravyTrain lies.

The plot about Chuck trying to find Jimmy Fish Eyes almost seems secondary in comparison with the world it is in and I found myself wanting to see more with Full Serve (Meadows) or the newscaster then I did actually wanting to see a resolution to the central plot.

In fact, if I were April and Tim, I would think about re-working this a little and pitch it as a series. I really think that Gypsy Creek and the adventures of it's towns people and of Chuck and Uma could hold it's own given the popularity of Adult Swim cartoons and the like.

Now on to the technical side.

April Mullen served as co-director on Way of the Tosser and has graduated to directing solo on this one and she has gotten good.

I mean real good.

The directing and cinematography (thanks to cinematographer Daniel Grant) behind GravyTrain is really solid. Mullen's developing a style that works well with in her current genre of films but could lead to some interesting work outside of comedy if she so chooses. It reminds me a lot of Jay Chandrasekhar (Super Troopers, Arrested Development, Chuck) but a bit more cinematic. If April ever decides to give up acting entirely, she'll have a solid career as a director to go into.

So you can see where my review is a bit weird. I rather liked everything about the movie but the actual main story to the film itself. There is obviously a lot of talent at work here both in front of the camera and behind the scenes but for whatever reason, the movie itself didn't fire on all cylinders for my tastes.

Now as to where these young film makers should go from here, Adam, Alex and I discussed it a bit after we exited the theater and we kind of came to a consensus.

Making an independent film is tough. In Canada it's even tougher. Due to budget concerns alone, you have to wear a lot of hats. In an ideal world what I'd like to see for their third film is one of the following:

1) A film written and directed by the pair but not starring.

or

2) A film starring Tim and April but where they're not writing and directing.

I think at this stage in the game it would do them good to have a bit of separation from the work in one form or another. Both Mullen and Doiron are talented both as actors and director/writer respectively but I think a bit of distance from the work would sharpen things up a bit. Given the nature of the world of independent film, this may not be possible but I'd like to think that given the obvious talent that's involved here that someone will give these folks enough money to make a movie where they can concentrate on the writing process and concentrate on the directing process without them having to worry about getting into hair and make up or hitting their marks. I'd also like to think that someone would see the talent of these two and try them out as a duo in their movie and just have them act together. With either scenario I see really good things happening.

For more details about GravyTrain (including where you can see it for yourself), you can find the official site here

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

There are very few musical performers who's birthdays I'll mention on this site but it is Iggy Pop's birthday today. He is 63 and can still kick the ass of any band on the planet.

Our good friend Jeff Woods has a great piece on Mr. Pop over at Explore Music and does a much better job then I would do. And not only do I concur with his thoughts, I will just reiterate, Raw Power is one of those albums you must at least listen to if not out right own. Your ears and your brain deserve to hear this album. A couple years ago, Iggy remixed it his own way but I must admit, I kind of like the original David Bowie mix (which was just re-released on cd last week).

So since Jeff (I can call him Jeff because he puts up with my emails on a regular basis and has yet to put out a restraining order on me) covered the history of Iggy, I figured my view will be a little more personal.

For all of his power, energy and just raw man-ness, Iggy Pop is responsible for one of my favorite rock love songs of all time.

Yes I am a sap.

Beside You comes off Iggy's American Caesar album which seems to have disappeared in terms of fans but for whatever reason, it's one of my favorites. I first heard the song on a special Much Music did where they had Iggy take over Much for what I think was around two hours (if anyone has a bootleg of this show, let me know, I WANT IT). At the time I was really head over heels with a girl a year younger then me and Beside You summed up everything my over dramatic teenage horromned brain felt for this young lady. But even out of my teens, this song has stuck with my something fierce. I have a short story that's inspired by the song and video that I may one day unleash on the public and if I ever get half decent on guitar, this song would probably be shoehorned into the set list whether any of the other players liked it or not.

One last note, one of the most surprising things about this rock ballad isn't just that it came from Iggy but that his co-writer on the song is none other then Sex Pistol Steve Jones.

Take a look at Jeff's piece here and then watch the following two videos:

And if you need a bit more rock after that sweetness, here he is with peaches beating on Zombies.

Well I'm not one of those guys who asks of people without offering something in return so here's the deal. I will have prizes for the following:

1) First Person to post on the conventioneers page asking for us to be on the show.

2) Best written post explaining to the conventioneers why they should have us on the show.

3) The person who gets the most people to go on to the conventioneers facebook page and demand that TATANS be part of the show! (for this one you will have to send me an email listing the people you got to do this for you. All of these people MUST be friends of yours on facebook so it can be verrified)

All entries must be done with respect to The Conventioneers (ie don't threaten them or do anything retarded) but other then that be creative. Post youtube videos, sing songs, whatever you want, just help us get on the show.

What kind of prizes you may be asking?

Currently I'm sitting on a stack of dvds from Anchor Bay home entertainment, trade paperbacks and some rpg books from Blue Beetle Comics.

Sunday, April 4, 2010

After a few weeks in which Adam was unable to work on the episodes (Primarily due to working 15-hour days to prepare for a trial), the Two Assholes are back, with a far more relaxed episode. After the 3.5 hours of the Assies, and a couple of months of special episodes preceding them, we just needed to cool down, and get back to basics with a very simple, sit-down episode.

So, we bring you Episode 19, where we focus on retro gaming on modern consoles, the Muppets, and some bone-headed plagiarism. Hopefully you enjoy it as much as we did.

Lest you worry about further delays in getting episodes out in the coming weeks, we already have 3 further episodes recorded as of this date, so the hard work is already done, and we just have to focus on finalizing the Assholey goodness so that it can be shipped out to you via the internetz.

After a few weeks in which Adam was unable to work on the episodes (Primarily due to working 15-hour days to prepare for a trial), the Two Assholes are back, with a far more relaxed episode. After the 3.5 hours of the Assies, and a couple of months of special episodes preceding them, we just needed to cool down, and get back to basics with a very simple, sit-down episode.

So, we bring you Episode 19, where we focus on retro gaming on modern consoles, the Muppets, and some bone-headed plagiarism. Hopefully you enjoy it as much as we did.

Lest you worry about further delays in getting episodes out in the coming weeks, we already have 3 further episodes recorded as of this date, so the hard work is already done, and we just have to focus on finalizing the Assholey goodness so that it can be shipped out to you via the internetz.

Saturday, April 3, 2010

As you probably know, I got a chance to do an interview with Miss Juliet Landau a little while back regarding her short documentary Take Flight. It's a short doc on Gary Oldman's creative process as he directed a video for Jewish hip-hop band Chutzpah...which he shot on cell phones.

Well as luck would have it, I actually got to sit down and watch Take Flight and thought I'd do a review on it. Juliet was an absolute sweet heart with us (I'm really looking for an excuse to talk to her again as it was a great interview that I'd love to follow up) but that doesn't mean I'm going to pull any punches either.

Take Flight is a rather interesting look at Gary Oldman. He's smiling, he's directing, it's a side of him that we've never really seen before. Oldman tends to be rather quiet with his private life (and who can blame him to be honest) so it's nice to see a different side of him. As well we get to see him improvise and work with the gear, time and money he's got. This video he was directing was low budget. And I mean low. But at no point during the documentary do you hear him complain about the lack of budget. Needs a crane shot? Pass Gary a pool skimmer. Steady cam? That's what duct tape and his chest are for.

Juliet and her crew did a great job of capturing these seldom scene moments. Take Flight itself is wonderfully shot and edited and it's use of classical music is rather well done.

Now what I felt was missing.

There are only one thing I would really change but in all fairness, this is completely a matter of taste, others will say differently and their argument would be just as valid.

For me, the one thing missing from Take Flight is an actual conversation with Gary. We see him from a far and while he's at work but no questions are really asked of him and nor do we hear why he's doing certain things. Like I said, the decision not to do direct interview or narration is a choice I can't fault, but as personal taste, I would have liked to know a little more.

As essentially a first film, Juliet's off to a good start. I can see a good amount of promise there in terms of her skills as a film maker and I'm very curious what she decides to follow this up with.

Oh wait, she already sort of has.

As part of promotion for Take Flight, Miss Landau went out and did a number of short interviews with a variety of creative people from all walks of life. She talks to voice directors, tattoo artists, actors, etc. And while they are just these six minute little interviews, I was really intrigued by them.

And it didn't hurt that she talked to David J, bass player for one of my favorite bands ever, Bauhaus.

I've always been intrigued by the creative process of different types of artists, in fact at one point, I strongly considered writing a book on the subject so these short interviews I find fascinating especially since she spoke to so many different people in different aspects of the arts.

Overall, I'm really looking forward to what Juliet cooks up next and if you're reading this Miss Landau, I am more then ready to make my screen debut. ;)

Thursday, April 1, 2010

March may be over, but there's a final hurrah for Blaxploitation History Month.

It didn't really fit our idiom to do the well-known "Black Belt Jones", so instead, we decided to put together a commentary track for its half-assed sequel, Hot Potato.

I could say a number of things about it, but I'm pretty sure we already did, so just go to the store, and rent a copy of Hot Potato, then sit back, and listen to the Two Assholes (plus Guestholes 2 and 3) make it all the more entertaining.